Pro-Hezbollah merchandise openly sold at family-friendly Lebanon fundraisers in Sydney

A family-friendly event in Sydney on Sunday that drew thousands of people has raised concerns over an “alarming” detail.

EXCLUSIVE

Pro-Hezbollah merchandise was openly sold at family-friendly Lebanon fundraising events in Sydney over the weekend, with young children seen wearing T-shirts paying homage to the terrorist group’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Two events on Sunday, the Lebanon Aid Food Festival at Riverine Park in Arncliffe and another at Al Zahra Mosque, featured a number of stalls selling Hezbollah-affiliated items, including photographs and paintings of Nasrallah, as well as T-shirts, journals and tote bags bearing his signature quote in Arabic, “In the name of God, we will undoubtedly be victorious.”

There were also prominent displays of Nasrallah’s infamous “T” hand gesture, often used by supporters of Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with the image seen on children’s T-shirts and drawings.

Shirts paying homage to Hassan Nasrallah. Picture: Supplied

The Hezbollah leader’s ‘T’ hand gesture. Picture: Supplied

One witness who attended the food festival, which drew thousands of people to Riverine Park on Sunday afternoon, said it was “alarming and shocking to see the merchandise being sold”.

“They had a petting zoo, they had rides for kids, face painting, lolly bars, BBQs, it was really designed for families,” he said.

The man, who did not want to be identified, said he was disturbed to see “kids wearing these shirts celebrating a known terrorist leader”.

“For the untrained eye it seems extremely normal, they’re all smiling and having fun, but the ideology at the root of that perspective is extremely violent and hateful,” he said.

This is a symbol of IRGC & Hezbollah jihadi terror. The “T” hand gesture means: “you came vertically [standing], you’ll leave horizontally [dead]”. It was promoted by Hassan Nasrallah & became the IRGC’s symbol for threatening “hard revenge” terrorism. I’ll be raising this with… https://t.co/r3VzkBvpIZpic.twitter.com/ZEb44ZaVcb

— Kasra Aarabi (کسری اعرابی) (@KasraAarabi) June 10, 2024

According to Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at US think tank United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), the T hand sign is a “symbol of IRGC and Hezbollah jihadi terror”, meant to signify “you came vertically (standing), you’ll leave horizontally (dead)”.

“It was promoted by Hassan Nasrallah and became the IRGC’s symbol for threatening ‘hard revenge’ terrorism,” he wrote on X earlier this year, after it was used by a number of protesters at pro-Palestine rallies.

Hezbollah has been a listed terror organisation in Australia since 2021 and flying its flag was made illegal under federal hate symbol laws passed in January this year.

The family friendly Lebanon fundraiser drew thousands of people. Picture: Supplied

In addition to the Nazi swastika, the law defines a prohibited symbol as “a symbol that a terrorist organisation or its members use to identify the organisation, for example the flag used by a terrorist organisation”, according to the Attorney-General’s Office.

It’s not clear whether pictures of Nasrallah or other Hezbollah-associated imagery would be captured under the definition.

The hate symbol laws passed in January, originally in response to the display of Nazi flags and salutes, are yet to be tested in court.

Nasrallah pictures for sale at Al Zahra Mosque. Picture: Supplied

Displaying a banned symbol alone is also not enough to constitute an offence.

It must also occur in circumstances where a reasonable person would consider it does one of a number of additional things, such as spreading hatred based on race, religion or nationality.

A 19-year-old Sydney woman was charged last month with flying a symbol of a prohibited terrorist organisation for brandishing a Hezbollah flag at a protest in September, following Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah in an air strike on Beirut.

Sarah Mouhanna pleaded not guilty and was bailed to appear in court in December.

Merchandise featured Nasrallah quotes and tributes. Picture: Supplied

One attendee described the merchandise as ‘shocking’. Picture: Supplied

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) told the Senate earlier this month that 14 people were under investigation over Hezbollah flags flown at protest in Melbourne.

There were no Hezbollah flags on display at Sunday’s events and it is not alleged that any of the attendees broke any laws.

“It’s shocking to see terrorist paraphernalia for sale on the streets of Sydney,” said Robert Gregory, chief executive of the Australian Jewish Association.

“The authorities need to take this seriously. Extremist mosques must be shut. Tolerating public support for proscribed terrorist groups is going to backfire on Australia. Australia has faced Islamic terrorist violence before, including in the Lindt Cafe siege. Failure to act means that we face the risk of further Islamic terrorist attacks here.”

Dr John Coyne, director of national security programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said for practical reasons there was no definitive list of banned symbols in part because it would require consistent legislative amendments to update.

He noted there were “big challenges” with proving that the display of certain banned symbols was shown to advocate terrorism or hatred.

“A clear defence would likely be that the symbols were being either sold and displayed for artistic value or that they were being sold and displayed not to advocate terrorism or hatred but to express support for the end of conflict in Gaza,” he said.

But Dr Coyne raised concerns about the display of the T symbol.

“While neither Australian law enforcement nor intelligence agencies wish to prevent peaceful protests, it seems time for further consideration of specifically listing the display of these symbols as well as those of Nazism,” he said.

Pictures of Nasrallah sold at one stall. Picture: Supplied

The Lebanon Aid Food Festival was organised by Wish Foundation, a Sydney-registered charity that does work in the Middle East and Africa.

A spokesperson for the charity said the claims were “unjust, inaccurate and … not a fair representation” of Wish Foundation.

“Wish Foundation made it clear to all stall owners not to display or sell prohibited material and any detection of any stall owner breaching the participant rules would result in their ejection from the event,” they said.

“We did not detect any breaches and nor were any breaches reported to us. Those in attendance at our festival were a representation of many faiths and diverse backgrounds who came to show support at a very precarious time. The people of Lebanon are being displaced, injured and killed, many in our community have family and loved ones who are impacted. Our charity created this event to bring the community together in a time of grief and despair to raise money to support those people in need in Lebanon.”

Al Zahra Mosque denied the claims. Picture: Supplied

A spokesman for Al Zahra Mosque denied that “any Hezbollah materials or images, including those of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, were displayed at the event”.

“This claim is both inaccurate and unacceptable,” he said.

“Al Zahra Mosque has always upheld principles of peace, community cohesion, and respect for the law of the land. We take great care in ensuring that our events reflect these values. To that end, we did not authorise or consent to any Hezbollah material being sold or displayed by any stallholders at the fundraiser. Our focus during the event was on supporting humanitarian efforts and providing aid to those in need, particularly in Lebanon.”

A NSW Police spokesman directed inquiries to the federal Attorney-General’s Office.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Pro-Hezbollah merchandise openly sold at family-friendly Lebanon fundraisers in Sydney